After Thor was defeated, Ingrid felt the same as she sat in the same shithole that has had for months. The one hope that she had was ripped away from her and she was left wallowing in her own self-pity. "Why the long face?" The sound of Valkyrie's voice came through in front of her causing Ingrid to turn her to lift her head from the ground to see Valkyrie standing there with her arms crossed.
"My one hope from getting out of here is gone and I'm scared that I'll never get to redeem myself for what I did. Running away from my family and my responsibilities." Ingrid wiped her nose before she felt a hand on her arm. With furrowed eyebrows, Ingrid touches Valkyries hand before wrapping her arms around her. "You're here! Oh, my god."
"I am and I'm getting you out. I've made a deal." Ingrid didn't question it and watched as Valkyrie walked towards the door. "Wait, I've got to say goodbye to someone first." Ingrid quickly goes over to Korg who swears as another rock falls off of him. "Korg, I'm getting out."
"Really? Well, damn who is going to be my co-rebellion leader?" Korg stood up as his sentence was said in a joking tone, but he genuinely needed a co-rebellion leader. "Miek."
"Ehh, he doesn't have any good ideas for marketing." Ingrid would miss that banter they had but promised her that she wouldn't leave her fellow pit dwellers there for long. "I promise I will be back." Korg nodded and sent her a quick wave as she stepped out of the pits with guilt in her chest. As Valkyrie and Ingrid walk out, Ingrid slowly realizes that she doesn't actually know what she was doing out. "So, what's the plan? Why am I here?"
"The Champion has requested to see the two of us. I'm not sure why, but the grandmaster would do anything for his champion. And I've bargained for you to stay out if you behave well." Ingrid rolled her eyes at the last one before nodding and the two headed up to Hulk's quarters. The two are escorted by guards as they head towards the room where Hulk is throwing a ball at the wall."He lives well," Ingrid whispers as she notices the Hot Tub in the corner before they walk in. She has to resist the urge to jump in.
"Angry girl!" Valkyrie bounds forward and gives Hulk a hug and the two start roughhousing. Ingrid moves into the side before she feels a poke at her side. With a soft chuckle, Ingrid turns to see a smiling Thor which causes Ingrid to gasp. "I thought you were dead." Ingrid touches his arm to see if he is actually in front of her and she wasn't just poisoned and hallucinating.
"I am a god. It'll take more than that to kill me." The two turn back to Valkyrie and Hulk. "What's going on? What do you...?" Hulk points at Thor and Ingrid, the latter smiles and points whilst mouthing the words 'he's alive!'
"You're so thick-headed that you can't tell when someone's hiding all the way across the universe and wants to be left alone? That's why you asked me to bring Ingrid?" Hulk starts moping around as Valkyrie has the most annoyed expression that Ingrid has ever seen. "We need to talk."
"No, you want to talk to me." Valkyrie began to walk towards the exit causing Thor to turn to the people behind him"I need her to stay," Thor tells Ingrid and Hulk and the two take very different approaches to the situation."Val, please just-" Ingrid decided to go the talking route whereas Hulk threw half a giant skull at the doorway causing Ingrid to turn to look at him with an eyebrow raised. Hulk shrugs before shouting at Valkyrie.
"Stay! Please?" Valkyrie rolls her eyes and makes her way to the liquor as Hulk goes back to bouncing a ball against the wall. Valkyrie walks over to Hulk's bar, picks up an unopened bottle of liquor before she puts it down and finds something cheaper. "Ingrid, you thirsty?" Valkyrie knew that the two were alcoholics but to them, it wasn't a problem as the Asgardians could handle their liquor well.
"Extremely." Thor watched as the Valkyrie women grab a bottle each before Valkyrie turns back to Thor. "All right. Here's the deal. I'll listen to you till this is empty and Ingrid's is." Ingrid knew that it only took a few seconds to chug down a bottle and she swore she was going to pace herself, but as her throat became coated with the booze, she couldn't stop.
"Asgard is in danger and people are dying. We need to get back there. I need your help...wow." Thor watched as Ingrid chugged down the alcohol in seconds. He couldn't help, but to admit to himself that the mere action made him more attracted to her. "Finished. Bye." As both Ingrid and Thor watched Valkyrie start to walk away, Thor bumped Ingrid and gesture for her to say something.
"Odin is dead, Val." This caused the Asgardian to stop in her tracks and gave Thor a starting point. "Hela, the Goddess of Death has invaded Asgard," Thor added causing Valkyrie to scoff.
"If Hela's back then Asgard is already lost." Ingrid had considered that this was possible and that Hela was waiting to slaughter them, but she couldn't just leave her former home and fellow citizens to face death without a fight. "I'm going to stop her."
"Alone?" Valkyrie raised an eyebrow before Ingrid stepped forward. "I'm going with him, Val." This caused Valkyrie to stare at the girl with a feeling of betrayal in her gut. She had just gotten her friend back and now, she was going to lose her again. "I'm putting together a team. It's me, you, Ingrid, and the big guy."
"No team. Only Hulk." Hulk shouted at the three causing Thor to reiterate his sentence. "It's us three."
"I think it's only you two." Ingrid shrugged before Thor sighed and took a step to be next to Ingrid in front of Valkyrie. "Wait. Just listen. The Valkyrie are legend, elite warriors of Asgard. You are sworn to defend the throne." The mention of the Valkyrie's made Ingrid gulp and breath out. "I'm not getting dragged into another one of Odin's family squabbles."
"Those are never fun," Ingrid adds as she runs her hands through her hair which definitely needed a wash. "What's that supposed to mean?" And that's when it occurred to Ingrid that Thor had no idea about his families history.
"Your sister. Her power comes from Asgard, same as yours. When it grew beyond Odin's control, she massacred everyone in the palace and tried to seize the throne. When she tried to escape her banishment, he sent the Valkyrie in to fight her back. She murdered Ingrid's sister and we only survived because... Look, I already faced her once back when I believed in the throne, and it cost me everything. That's what's wrong with Asgard. The throne, the secrets, the whole golden sham." Ingrid sighed as she felt Thor's eyes on her, filled with pity and regret.
He put a hand on Ingrid's shoulder and gently rubbed it. Ingrid leaned into his hand causing him to smile a bit before turning back to Valkyrie who looked like she was about to ask the two to get a room. "I agree. That's why I turned down the throne. But this isn't about the crown. This is about the people. They're dying and they're you're people, too." Valkyrie puts her hands on his chest and shoves him before taking a step back. "Forget it. I have."
"Okay. Good. Great." Thor nods as if he is understanding but in the short time that Ingrid has known Thor, she doubts that a man like that would give up easily. "Great," Valkyrie repeats. "Thank you." Ingrid turned to Thor, confused with his words until she saw he had the fob device behind his back. "For what?"
"For this." Thor lifts up the fob device and powers down the obedience disk in his neck before wearing a cocky grin and nodding at the girls. "Wow, smooth." Ingrid shakes her head at the cocky god. "Didn't see that did you? There... that's better. You know, go ahead. Stay here and get drunk and enslave people for that lunatic. Keep drinking. Keep hiding. But me..." Thor gestures for Hulk to throw him the ball and he does and tosses it upwards.
"I choose to run toward my problems and not away from them. Because that's what..." Thor hurls the ball towards the window which makes a crack but also hits him back in the head in the process. "Because that's what heroes do." Thor grabbed Ingrid's waist and hurls the two towards the window causing Ingrid to let out a short shout as the two plummet towards the ground.
I decided that the other chapter wasn't enough so I decided to update twice so I hope you enjoyed!
Thanks, Queenie.
(EDITED)